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Gregg Bell joined The News Tribune in July 2014. Bell had been the director of writing for the University of Washington's athletic department for four years. He was the senior national sports writer in Seattle for The Associated Press from 2005-10, covering the Seahawks in their first Super Bowl season and beyond. He's also been The Sacramento Bee's beat writer on the Oakland Athletics and Raiders. The native of Steubenville, Ohio, is a 1993 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., and a 2000 graduate of the University of California, Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism.

I kinda hope Bevell has come up with a game plan that goes against his usual offensive play tendencies. MIN’s defense hasn’t been good against either the pass or the run. They’ve been fairly good at pass rush, but I worry that they might fully anticipate every play SEA’s offense plays. Hopefully, even so SEA’s plays are successful. I also wonder if PHs debut isn’t against a defense which can best anticipate his every move?

MIN’s rush and pass offenses have not been as strong as SEA’s, but their OL has played better than ours, both at pass-pro and run-blkg. SEA’s STs are a close 2nd to DEN’s and MIN’s STs are performing near the middle of the NFL. This is a tricky game to be shuffling OL and other offensive players, but it would be a big upset for Ponder to beat SEA’s defense at the Clink, and even as big an upset for MIN’s defense to outperform SEA’s offense. A loss against MIN would have horrible repercussions – SEA has to play from the start and not let up until the final whistle.

Wondering why they kept someone like Hauptmann over Daniels at first glance, but clearly they are not going to put BB on the IR if there’s so much as a glimmer of hope that he returns at some point in the postseason (at worst).

For all of you that hope the 9ers win against the Saints this weekend, may I remind you that the 9ers are getting stocked up at the right time and their sched is a bit easier than the Saints. The Saints face the Hawks & (Red Hot) Panthers (twice) with 4 of their last 6 games on the road. The other three games are Bucs, Falcons & Rams. In a 4 week period they will face the Hawks Panthers (twice) and Rams with their only home game coming against Carolina.

The 9ers have 3 home and 3 away after this week, with the toughest three coming against the three other NFC west teams. The other three are the lowly Bucs, Falcons and Redskins.

I’m personally indifferent to the outcome this weekend other than the fact that I just can’t stomach pulling for the 9ers…PERIOD.

The problem with that kind of thinking @WilliamPercival is that you’re trying to predict (and rely upon) losses for the Saints. That would be a mistake. It’s also not a mathematically sound strategy.

You have to go with the math here. You have to always err on the side of caution and choose the option that best gives you a chance to get HFA.

I doubt Seattle goes 15-1. That would be one heck of a feat. Which means we need some wiggle room. We need a Saints loss to help ensure we have HFA. Maybe Carolina can beat them, but I’m still skeptical.

49ers are already 2 behind us. A Saints loss puts them both 2 behind. Math says you root for the FourtyWhiners this weekend.

Personally, I don’t really care who wins or loses those games. Seattle controls their own destiny, and that is a far better thing.

sluggo – that’s what I’m hoping for Bevel to do – use MIN’s expectations against them. That’s what I wonder if Bevel has taken the time this week to do. If SEA is a great team, then it really shouldn’t matter if the defense knows what you’re gonna do (kinda like Holmgren’s 88 blast), your team just lines up and executes it on the defense and they can’t stop it.

I’m pulling for the Saints because I think the 49ers are the better team.
The Saints are average at best on the road and I doubt they will have an easy time with the Seahawks, Panthers and Rams on the road.

If SF wins against the Saints, and we lose to the saints, then the niners have the tie break if we lost in SF the following week.

No sense losing the division over being too cute. Wrap it up and then worry about home field advantage.

Furthermore, it’s time we start thinking like a championship community. We play both teams in question, let’s believe in ourselves and just go out there and win. I’m tired of wringing my hands praying for other people to lose. It’s our time, let’s enjoy it.

We want the Saints to beat the 49ers. Winning the division and securing a 1st round bye is 1st priority. Seahawks can probably wrap up HFA by beating the Saints in Seattle. But if per chance one of those 2 teams gets very hot and passes Seattle for HFA, we want it to be the Saints because if it is the 49ers, we are a wild card team and have to play all road games in the playoffs. And another reason for rooting for the Saints to beat the 49ers tomorrow…..it is just fun to see the Jim Harbaugh losing expressions!

If the 49ers are good enough to beat the Saints in New Orleans, we’re in a world of trouble. That would require a good team, and we’d be hard pressed to beat the 49ers at the 49ers, and we could easily expect them to win a bunch more games.

Conversely, if the Saints win at home, it’s very likely the 49ers are not a great team. It’s also still quite likely we beat the Saints at our house, and have a head to head tiebreaker with them, i.e. they have to finish a game ahead of us to get an advantage with the seeding.

I want the Saints to win. It puts another loss on the 49ers, increases the importance of our (home) game against the Saints, and lessens the importance of our (away) game against the 49ers.

actually, they would have the same record against common opponents, but the Niner strength of victory would be better because of wins over the packers and the other win they have against a non-common opponent, can’t remember who. Our non-common opponents, I think the vikings and giants if memory servers, have terrible records.

To each their own, but I just can’t see pulling for the niners for the reasons you guys are stating. We haven’t even won our division yet.

The only reason to want the niners to win, is if we’re concerned we’re gonna lose to the saints. If the niners win and then we lost to the saints as your apparently worried about, then the division is seriously at risk.

I’m not worried at all about losing to the Saints, and I’m not worried about losing to the 49ers on the road. Even if the worst case scenario happened and we lose them both we still have a good shot at getting the best record in the NFC.
And if by chance we don’t then we will do it on the road, which could be even more satisfying because then they won’t be saying we were lucky to have HFA.

agree with soggybuc lol. shred it. i’m sorry but math is not the winner here. the freakin’ DIVISION is the priority, then we can worry about HFA. furthermore, if it comes down to the saints or whiners game being a pivotal game for us, gosh, would ya rather it be at home or on the road? obviously at home.

in simple talk: the saints win, our home game against them is more important, but it’s a HOME GAME. the whiners win, our game against them ON THE ROAD is more important. oh yeah, and the saints game would actually be too bc the whiners would then hold that tiebreaker. they lose, we take care of the saints and we’re pretty good. pretty frickn’ simple.

all that being said, I think we’re gonna win both games against the saints and Niners, because I think we’re better, and I have tons of confidence in our QB. Plus, the team will find a way to win games, as it’s shown.

I just don’t believe in statement games. There is no statement game that lasts longer than the week leading up to the next game.

I want us to win, and I want us to stay healthy. I want us to show we can protect the quarterback, run the ball, and rush the passer. And I want our defensive coaching staff to further refine their concept of how to use the d-line talent.

AP ran for 182 and 2 TDs last season. That guy is scary good, and their OL can run-block as well as pass-block. This game could look a lot like the TB game, but I’m hoping it’s more like 42-14 in favor of the Seahawks. I hope PH returns 2 punts for TDs, Tate catches 2 TDs, and ML runs for 2 TDs.

“Seahawks on the storm”
“Seahawks on the storm”
“Into this house we’re born”
“Into this world we’re thrown
“Like a dog without a bone”
“An actor out alone”
“Seahawks on the storm”

“There’s the Vikings on the road”
“Their brains are squirmin’ like a toad”
“We have to make them pay”
“If they try to play”
“If we give this team a ride”
“Sweet HFA could die”
“Vikings on the road, yeah”

“ya gotta love this team”
“ya gotta love this team”
“This is not a dream”
“This is the real thing”
“The Seahawks we depend”
“Our hopes will never end”
“Gotta love this team, yeah”

Started thinking about the importance of this game as we head into the bye week. While we have a 2 game lead for the division, if we lose this game it would REALLY tighten things up in terms of the division and/or the conference, depending on the outcome of the SF/NO matchup.

Everyone keeps saying we will smoke the Vikings but I think it’s going to take exceptional play from a couple of areas that the Vikes excel…stopping their running game and stopping their return game.

We cannot afford to let AP get 180+ yards like he did last year. And we absolutely HAVE to keep the field position going our way, which means we need to pin them deep on punts and make damn sure kickoffs go out of the endzone.

Beyond those two keys is the biggest single factor of winning and losing in the NFL is turnover margin. We need to take care of the ball on our side and force them into turnovers on their side. So that means converting 3rd downs on our side and putting them in lots of long 3rd downs. Which brings us full circle…stopping their running game in order to put them in 3rd and long.

Not saying we’re going to beat the Saints AND Whiners – but I’d bet money, individually, that we’re going to win every game from here on out. Not saying we will – but saying that each week “we” are the best team that I’d put my money on.

I bet on football every once in awhile and haven’t made a bet yet this year (that shows how much I do) – but tomorrow I’m predicting the ‘Hawks to cover the spread and will put money on it. I simply don’t think the Vikes can keep pace on the road.

I see them here and think they suck (I apologize for making a Vikings reference and not talking about the Colts). After the near disaster against the Bucs, I don’t think our guys will take this game lightly against another supposedly bad team at home (and, yes, the Vikes are bad).

If the line was 20 tomorrow – I’d still put up money that the Hawks will cover.

There is no way we should be rooting for the Niners in my opinion. The goals at the start of the season (in order):

1. Win @ Home
2. Win division
3. Secure #2 seed
4. Secure HFA

In this debate of who to root for tomorrow, the goals are:

1. Handle Minnesota. Don’t snooze on them. There is talent there and right now there is not a soul that thinks they have a chance tomorrow which gives them the best motivation they’ve probably had all year. The Vikings will play us tough…watch.

2. Root for New Orleans. You have to like our chances more to win at home, on Monday Night with RW’s home record

as opposed to

Rooting for San Fran…then thinking that we can just go down there and clean up when in fact it has been quite some time since we’ve gone to SF and won period.

Even IF the Saints were to beat us and SF…we’d still have the chance to get the #2 seed as I don’t see the Lions or NFC Least losers catching us (although I really don’t think the Lions are getting the attention they deserve.)

If the Niners pull off the miracle, then our odds of falling to a five or six increase. If the Niners lose and we can build the NFC West lead…

we stand to have a 1st round bye and IMO that is the goal (in order) after the other two and before gaining HFA.

It’s just my opinion, it seems like simple math, but if someone can make me see otherwise, I’d be willing to consider it.

Mo–the Dolphins not only lost their starting RT and a starting G, their team is in total disarray. Plus, Seattle just faced two very poor D-lines. Seattle has yet to perform well (ie, consistently) vs a team with a good d-line.

They are still among the bottom of the league. However, they seem to be playing as a unit, and neither Bowie nor Sweezy are getting blown up by bull rushes, nor ran around as in earlier games. Sweezy has improved dramatically in the last month, discounting the Rams game.

Lem played great, IMO, and Im not really wanting Unger to see the field unless and until his arm fully heals. And I must say, watching Bailey play well enough all over the line has been awesome. Im really stoked about this kids potential.

If Okung and Breno can play even half the game and play well, Im gonna be PUMPED!

Im cautiously optimistic regarding our line, but nervous to see how they do when playing vs good D-lines a couple games in a row.

And I think Baldwin, Tate, and Kearse will continue to tear it up; Harvin taking snaps from them will force the competition to new heights.

Niners vs NO?! I dont care. Its more important how Seattle plays over the final 6 games. The main thing is the O-line; are they coming together? Will they improve enough to get this team firing on all cylinders? Because I firmly believe–as I have all season– that if the line can maintain a merely avg level of play, this team is unstoppable and is capable of crushing–not just beating– every team in the league.

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